Secrets of the Balkans . f auton-omy in Bessarabia. About two thousand people werepresent. All the professors, students, and prominentmen and women of the city and country were there,and speeches were made in nearly all languages. Theautonomy was praised enthusiastically. At the end of the meeting, the people began to callfor me. I declined to talk, but when a committee ofladies and the bishop came to me, and asked me to saya few words, I got up and said that I wished that allthe Roumanian aspirations might be realized. I spokein English, and I do not believe that twenty-five peopleunderstood
Secrets of the Balkans . f auton-omy in Bessarabia. About two thousand people werepresent. All the professors, students, and prominentmen and women of the city and country were there,and speeches were made in nearly all languages. Theautonomy was praised enthusiastically. At the end of the meeting, the people began to callfor me. I declined to talk, but when a committee ofladies and the bishop came to me, and asked me to saya few words, I got up and said that I wished that allthe Roumanian aspirations might be realized. I spokein English, and I do not believe that twenty-five peopleunderstood what I said, but I spoke English purposelybecause all the other languages of the Allies were spokenthere, and I thought that my countrys language shouldalso be heard. In the evening I accepted an invitation from theCzecho-Slovak colony to visit them. When I arrived,in company of General Vaitoianu, Governor of Bess-arabia, we found in the hall a lot of people, includingmany young ladies, all in white, who immediately com-. ADVICE TO BESSARABIANS 263 menced to sing national songs, Czecho-Slovak, Americanand Roumanian. Speeches were made by several, amongthem General Vaitoianu and myself. The Czecho-slovaks, under the leadership of Captain Cerensky, wereglad that I brought the governor with me, as that gavethem an assurance that they would be well treated. While it was not decided positively in February, 1918,as to where the Czecho-Slovak army then at Zitomir andKiev would be sent, it was hoped that they would cometo Roumania and Bessarabia, and Captain Cerenskymade preparation for their accommodations. He alsoarranged for the hiring of other Czecho-Slovaks fromSouthern Russia, who should report to Major GeneralTrojanov (Pragen), to reinforce the Roumanians on theborder of Southern Ukrainia against the Germans. Hewas financed by the French military attache, who didthis at my suggestion. Captain Cerensky had a very goodorganization, but before he could use it the war ended. Courier
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, booksubjecteastern, bookyear1921
